5 Things To Do On Bad Mental Health Days

Some days you can get up, and move through your day, happy, relaxed and most of all in a good or at least decent mental state. But there are also an equal number of times when simply moving to get out of bed is literally impossible. You’d much rather stay in bed for the whole day. You probably won’t sleep, but laying in the covers, either staring off in space deep in thought (or an imaginary land), or being on your phone or laptop is just a lot easier. But now that you’ve been laying there for a while and its 2pm you start to feel like shit, because you haven’t done anything productive or otherwise. Just laid there like a potato, so you try to force yourself to at least get up and eat something, you’ve been hungry for the last 2 hours, but getting out of the bed is still a lot of damn work. Days like these are very common with depression. So 5 things that help me at least start to move if I’m having a super bad mental day.

1. Take A Shower

So this here is the most basic of advice I can give you. I’ve had days where I know I need to get the hell up and move. Most of the time I can at least get up and walk to the shower, but in all honesty there have been a few days where I literally had to crawl (granted the bathroom is right across from my room so it wasn’t that far, but still. You get the point). On some of those days I can put on some of my super inspirational music (The Night Begins To Shine, or Tron Legacy (End Tiles)) and it’ll get me to a point where standing up isn’t a pain. Of course that doesn’t work all the time. But when you finally get to the shower, turn it as hot as you can, without your body cringing at the heat. If you need to, just sit there and let it rain over you, don’t think, just be, 9/10 you will start to feel slightly better.

2. Music

You’ve probably read this over and over again and you’re probably tired of it by now. But I promise you, music helps even when you don’t want to. There have been times where I’ve forced myself to listen to songs that make me happy and hyper, even though all I really wanted to listen to was Better Off Dead by Sleeping With Sirens (it’s actually a really good song, you should check it out). But after a little while or maybe even in the first song, your mood will change. You’ll find yourself tapping to the beat, smiling, singing, and eventually dancing. It’s my number 1 mood booster.

3. Take A Walk

This one I’ll admit only works for certain people and on certain days. But when it does work you’ll feel as light as a feather, and in your head will repeatedly whisper that “The world is beautiful”. Just put your shoes on, grab some headphones and let your feet carry you, don’t worry about where you’re going, it only clouds your mind. For this to work you need to be free of thought, and free of worry. Eventually, you’ll realize what I’m talking about. Preferably though, do this on a sunny day. With me personally, going walking on grey days, only worsen my mental state. So I wouldn’t recommend that.

4. DRIVE!

Dude (or duddetes and everyone in between) if I didn’t have to pay for gas, and I had a better car, this would be my number 1 recommendation. I LOVE driving. The windows down, wind coming through, music loud as it can go, with the bass heavy, feeling the jump when I shift gears and go faster. I swear there’s nothing like it (though unfortunately I live in America where I can’t just hop on a highway and go as fast as I want. Not legally anyway). So if you have a car, or truck (and of course a license or permit) I would definitely say to do this one. Bring your phone/IPod so you have your own personalized tunes though).

5. Don’t be so hard on yourself

This one is what most struggle with on bad mental health days. You feel bad for letting yourself slip so much, and now you feel like shit. And it will worsen unless you do something about it. When you feel that happening, tell yourself to stop being such a dick. You’re gonna have bad days, and you need to accept that, and just relax. If all you do is go eat a bowl of cereal, and take a shower then get back in bed the rest of the day, or even if you only do one of those. I want you to be proud of yourself, and I want you to know that I’m proud of you. Because I know it took probably every ounce of willpower that you had.

What are some things you guys do to push yourself on bad mental health days? Have you tried one of these? Let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to subscribe to keep up with my latest posts. Love you guys <3